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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Working Away...

1. Testing. The boys are testing this week.

Whoopee.

I'm trying to keep it low-key so that nobody gets stressed about it. So far, so good. Since testing only takes at most an hour a day (per boy) we have a lot of free time, and we're trying to have a special treat each day :D

For the rest of the week we're working through the Stanford Achievement Test, which I have to send away to be scored. They're doing fine.

2. Quilting. Yes. I got up my nerve to cut. Agonizing before cutting is nothing new, but working with a "Layer Cake" took it to a new level for me - no room for error. Last Christmas I asked for - and received - some special Mary Engelbreit fabric.

It's a collection called The Caroler with a Christmas theme, though not all the fabrics are Christmassy. But - most helpful for me - all the pieces are coordinated. Dang that stuff is expensive!

What I have - a Layer Cake - is a stack of forty-two 10" squares and a couple of larger pieces (the red snowflake and the green snowflake.) Enough to make a nice big cozy couch blanket, but not a bed-size.

But what to do? Needs to be fairly simple, since many of the prints are kind of large, and it wouldn't look good cut in too small of pieces. But I hate to "waste" special fabric on something too ordinary (just squares). Thought about doing something simple, like this:

(Different fabric, similar color palette.)

But the part where eight corners comes together just gives me the shivers. I've practiced that with scraps and not so sure I have the skills to run with it just yet!

Therefore, the many late nights of searching quilt books and quilt blogs, and sketching on scratch paper. *ugh*

But now I have a plan. And it came from a 17 year old boy in Minnesota. Yah.

Christmassy. Simple. And will leave me a few scraps to make a coordinating table runner.

About Me

I am a Christian, a wife, and a home-educating SAHM to three very enthusiastic boys. Trying to focus their energy, attention, and exuberance is like herding grasshoppers.
I have a dream, from Isaiah… “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” But the reality is more like “Zena, Queen of the Testosterzone!”
We have a lot more "odd" than "awed" in our lives. Welcome to our corner of friendly chaos.